Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Rape Culture Exists

There's a problem in society that I didn't know what to call until earlier this year.. An undertone where sexual assault against women is okay and accepted. Ideally we all would like to believe this isn't true, because it would say a lot about the world we live in if it were. I used to believe that people did in fact actually care about the well being of women in regards to rape until I begin to study what many call rape culture.

According to wikipedia Rape culture is a phrase used to describe a culture in which rape is pervasive and normalized due to societal attitudes about gender, sex, and sexuality. Common symptoms are victim blaming, objectification, sand denial of widespread rapes. I actually saw someone on my instagram timeline post a picture of this young lady, laying on the floor passed out, nude with a corny joke above it. This man is a dad with a daughter himself. Even if he didn't know the young lady was possibly raped, why would he think it was funny to exploit, this young girl? We live in the world where the violation of women isn't taken seriously, and it's sad. Instead of teaching men to respect women regardless of lifestyle, and to not rape women, we instead teach women what not to do to get rapped. What kind of twisted shit is that?The young lady in the picture was Jada, who'se video went viral of her clearly passed out and being raped by another young man (his name hasn't been released cause hasn't been charged with a crime) You may read more about the case here: Click link for moreJada went public when the video went viral a month a later on twitter with the hash tag Jada pose attach to it. Very disturbing that it became a joke, and is a testament to how rape culture allows and reinforces very harmful behavior. Addressing rape culture we must first examine the way we look at rape, and understand that many people aren't aware that they contribute to rape culture. I saw a great list on EverydayFeminism.com that shows a few examples of what rape culture looks like in our everyday lives. To treat this problem we must spread this message everywhere.

Rape Culture Is…

1. A university in Canada that allows the following student orientation chant: “Y is for your sister. O is for oh-so-tight. U is for underage. N is for no consent. G is for grab that ass.”

2. Pop music that tells women “you know you want it” because of these “blurred lines” (of consent).

3. A judge who sentenced only 30 days in jail to a 50-year-old man who raped a 14-year-old girl (who later committed suicide), and defended that the girl was “older than her chronological age.”

4. Mothers who blame girls for posting sexy selfies and leading their sons into sin, instead of talking with their sons about their responsibility for their own sexual expression.